GST Fraud Of ₹323 Crore Busted In Odisha; Chartered Accountant Among two Arrested

Bhubaneswar: The state GST (Goods and Services Tax) enforcement wing unearthed a racket involved in fake invoicing of 1,819 crore to claim input task credit (ITC) worth Rs 323 crore and arrested two persons.

This is one of the biggest GST frauds detected in recent times.

Addressing a press conference here, Commercial Taxes and GST Commissioner Sushil Kumar Lohani said Amit Kumar Agrawal, a chartered accountant, and his accomplice Satindra Kumar Yadav, had been arrested for allegedly creating and operating 13 fictitious firms.

“The two have availed and passed ITC worth ₹323 crore by raising fake purchase and sale invoices to the tune of ₹1,819 crores in the name of 13 fictitious or non-existent business entities,” he said.

Lohani said that the actual loss to the government is ₹58.14 crore as the ITC was passed on to recipients outside the state of Odisha. “The duo committed the fraud by taking advantage of the newly-introduced simplification of GST,” he said.

Since the fraud spread over to West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, officers moved to different states and conducted the investigation, taking the help of the jurisdictional officers concerned, he added.

The addresses of 10 fictitious firms were traced to wasteland without any building or infrastructure at Bagdehi in Jharsuguda, two other places in Beheramal in Jharsuguda, and one in Sambalpur.

“Investigation revealed that a portion of illegal money accrued from the fake business has ultimately been received by the masterminds through different channels and routes,” he added.